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cite other things which grieve the Spirit and are not befitting the new life where the old man has been put away and the new man put on. He says: “ Let all bit terness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and railing, be put away from you, with all malice.” By “ bitterness” is meant bitterness toward others. By “ wrath” is meant sudden and intense anger. By “ anger” is meant settled and chronic anger. By “ clamor” is meant noisy assertion of our rights and opin ions. By “ railing” ( “ evil speaking” in the Authorized Version) is meant evil speaking regarding others. By “ malice” Paul points to the root from which all these things grow. Notice the absolutely uncompromising character of Christian ethics in the “ alls” in this verse. We are to put away not merely some bitter ness, but “ all bitterness,” not merely some wrath, but “ all wrath,” not merely some anger, but “ all anger,” not merely some clamor, but “ all clamor,” not merely some railing, but “ all railing.” and not merely some malice, but “ all malice.” But it is not enough that these should be put away in every form. Over and beyond that, and as opposed to all that, we should “ be kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, even as God also in Christ forgave” us. By “ kind” is meant helpful and consid erate. But it is not enough even to be helpful and considerate, we must be “ tender hearted.” How rare this virtue is today. By saying “ forgiving each other” Paul suggests to us, and we should never forget it, that there will be occasion for others to forgive us as well as for us to forgive them. And now what is the reason for our forgiving others and the measure of our forgive ness? The answer Paul gives is a won derful one: “ even as God also in Christ forgave” us (cf. Col. 2:13; 3:13; Matt. 6:12). God forgave us “ in Christ,” Christ is the ground upon which God forgave us (Eph. 1 :7), and Christ is the one in whom the forgiveness is. MONDAY, August 5. Eph. 5:1, 2. Paul continues to describe the walk that is worthy of the exalted calling wherewith the man “ in Christ” is called (cf. ch. 4 :1 ), the life befitting the one who has “ put aside the old man” and “ put on the new man,” which is created “ after God.” As we are created in the image of God we should “ be imitators of God,” not merely “ followers of God,” as the Authorized Version puts it, but “ imitators, of God.” That is a tre mendous phrase. Stop and think of it,
unitating God. Some of us hesitate to imitate men of extraordinary saintliness, but here Paul tells us to imitate God, the infinitely Holy One, the All-Perfect One (cf. Matt. 5:45, 48; Luke 6:36; 1 Pet. 1:15, 16). If we have life in God we must show it by living like God. We must do this “ as beloved children” (cf. Matt. 5:48; 1 Pet. 1:17, R. V.), a child must prove his sonship by his likeness to his parent (John 8:39). According to the context it is especially in the mat ter for forgiveness that we are to be like God (cf. ch. 4:32). God is the supreme example of forgiveness (cf. Matt. 5:44, 45; Luke 6:35). We must, however, go beyond the mere act of forgiveness, our daily walk must be “ in love,” each step should be governed by love. In this Christ is our great example: He loved us and gave Himself for us. We then in just the same way should love others and give ourelves for them. It was, of course, as a propitiatory sacrifice that Christ gave Himself for us (1 John 3: 1 0 ;,'2 :2 )j but that point is not espec ially in view here, but the giving of Himself, so we should not only give our possessions for others, we should give ourselves (cf. 1 John 3:16). As “ an offering and a sacrifice” Christ gave Himself in our behalf. The words trans lated “ offering” and "sacrifice” are closely akin to one another in meaning, but the word translated “ offering” emphasizes the thought of self-dedica tion and surrender to God’s use, and the word translated “ sacrifice” emphasizes that thought of this surrender carried out in the death, “ sacrificed This offer ing and sacrifice of Christ was to God “ an odor of a sweet smell.” This is an impressive figure of speech taken from the Old Testament types (Lev. 19:13, 17) and expresses the thought that Christ’s dedication of self, and the pro pitiation He wrought by His atoning death were fragrant facts to God; they were as acceptable to Him as fragrant perfume is to the nostrils. TUESDAY, August. 6, Eph. 5:8, 4 In opposition to the fair life of love that we should lead, Paul sets forth the things we should not do. “ Fornica tion (a horrid sin, and very common in heathenism, and the one that the heathen among us sometimes think lightly o f), and all uncleanness (i. e., uncleanness in act, word or thought), or covetousness,” should be so thor oughly repudiated among us as to not even have their names mentioned with any degree of allowance. Alas! it is
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